The Coast Guard Cutter Pomano, an 87-foot coastal patrol boat based in the New Orleans area, is being serviced at Global Ship System.

Steve Bisson

Georgia Pacific-Gypsum in Savannah.

Carl Elmore

Tankers line up at Colonial Oil Company, on East Lathop Avenue, for gasoline to be delivered around Savannah and Chatham County.

Carl Elmore

Tankers arrive at Colonial Terminals about every two weeks, bringing gasoline to the Coastal Empire.

When it comes to keeping Savannah's ports secure, the busy shipping terminals at Georgia Ports Authority are but one piece of the puzzle - albeit a big one.

There are some two dozen other businesses on the waterfront that are required by the U.S. Coast Guard to have security plans and a security officer on site.

They range from the Imperial Sugar Refinery to PCS Phosphates, from Georgia Power plants Kraft and McIntosh to the Citgo Asphalt Refinery.

Each also is eligible for federal security funds through the Department of Homeland Security.

Colonial Terminals applied for and received grants of $20,750 and $17,550 for 2005 and 2006 respectively.

But other port facilities - including Georgia Ports - have made application to no avail.

That's something the new Savannah River Security Alliance hopes to address as it gets a better handle on security needs up and down the river.

"Each one of these facilities has individual security needs," said Page Siplon, executive director of the Maritime Logistics Innovation Center at Georgia Tech's Savannah campus and director of operations for the alliance.

The new group is composed of some 25 voting members - those facilities with security plans overseen by the U.S. Coast Guard - and more than a dozen advisory members - mostly coordinating government offices, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the city of Savannah, Chatham County and Chatham Emergency Management Agency.

Port-related service groups, such as the Propeller Club and the Savannah Maritime Association also are listed as advisory members.

"From our side of the house, any time you can get the port community together to sit down and talk about security, it's a good thing," said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. David Murk, commanding officer of Marine Safety Office Savannah.

"A group like this can take a look at the port as a whole and work on issues they can solve together. It could be something like getting everyone on the same communication link, which would be extremely helpful in an emergency, to applying as a consortium for port security grant funding," Murk said.

"From our perspective, it's good to see people looking outside their own facilities."

Gary Davis agreed.

"Security on the river is everyone's concern," said Davis, director of port security for Peeples Industries, parent company of East Coast Terminal Co.

"The SRSA provides us with a private, protected forum for sharing best practices as well as an opportunity to learn about the latest technology improvements.

"It's an environment for open discussion of sensitive information."

Because nonclassified security-related information is discussed at alliance meetings, voting members must sign an approved nondisclosure agreement to protect the contents of those discussions, Siplon said.

"Because some of the companies are business competitors, we don't discuss company secrets or business issues," he said.

"But when it comes to security, we need to take a 'What's mine is yours' approach," he said. "We're all in this."

Bringing the companies together to share information and intelligence will make for a tighter security net, Siplon said.

"We want to look at our common needs and challenges and try to find best practices to address those," he said. "For example, one company may have a need that another company has already dealt with. But, if they aren't talking, one won't be able to share what they already know with the other."

An example, he said, is the anticipated rollout of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, a new multi-format identity verification and access control card developed with funding from Homeland Security.

Last month, employees at the Port of Long Beach Container Terminal in California became the first port workers in the nation to use the identification.

"It's coming, and we all - from the largest company on the river to the smallest - have to be ready," Siplon said. "Because when it's fully implemented, there will be no unescorted access to any port facility without it."

In addition to looking for solutions to common problems, the alliance also will look collectively at applying for port security grants, both federal and others.

"Together, we're a much stronger voice," he said. "And we can't allow what's happened the last two years - when the Port of Savannah was largely ignored - to happen again."

Maritime Logistics Innovation Center

Created in 2003 through the Georgia Centers of Innovation Program and housed on Georgia Tech's Savannah Campus, the innovation center is a partnership of private industry, academia and federal and state authorities working together to develop and apply new technologies designed to keep the nation's supply chain efficient and secure.

Source: MLIC

Savannah River Security Alliance

The alliance is a voluntary private-public pairing between private businesses - those with immediate proximity to the Port of Savannah and the Savannah River - and affiliated government agencies. They share the common goal of facilitating overall security at the Port of Savannah.